Following
is a talk given in a panel titled “Fighting the expanding police state” at the Nov. 13-14, 2010, National
Conference on Socialism sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Welcome to Los Angeles!
When you think of Los Angeles, what
immediately comes to mind? Well, Disneyland. Hollywood. The Lakers. Beverly Hills and the
beaches. Am I right? Of course, I am. Visitors to my home know very little
about this grand city, with its valleys, mountain ranges, smog, traffic and
killer cops.
When I think of L.A., two things
come to mind—killer cops, and rebellions against police terror. Since we are
here in L.A. today, I want to go over some of the history of the racist,
repressive and always brutal Los Angeles Police Department. We have got to know
who we are up against if we want to build an effective fight back movement.
L.A.’s killer cops need go no
further than the name that adorns the police headquarters, William H. Parker.
During Parker’s regime, the LAPD faced accusations of police brutality and
racial animosity toward Blacks and Latinos, which resulted from Parker’s
recruiting of officers from the South, most of whom had military backgrounds
with strong racist attitudes.
That says it all for me. Parker was
chief during the Watts Rebellion in 1965, a rebellion that was sparked by the
other killer cop agency that occupies Black and Latin neighborhoods almost
exclusively, the California Highway Patrol.
What happened is this: Lee Minikus,
a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer, pulled over Marquette Frye on
the pretext of drunk driving. Frye was arrested. Minikus refused to let Frye’s
brother, Ronald, drive the car home, and radioed for it to be impounded. As
events escalated, a crowd of onlookers steadily grew from dozens to hundreds.
The people, almost exclusively Black, got angry and began throwing rocks and
other objects while shouting at the cops. A struggle ensued shortly, wherein
the cops beat and arrested Marquette and Frye, as well as their mother. This
set off three days of urban rebellion, a justified uprising of Black workers
and poor against the racist police and the system they protect.
The cops only stopped the uprising
by calling in the National Guard to kill and repress the Black-led uprising. The violent character of the Watts
rebellion terrified the ruling class. They were afraid that the rebellion would
transform into widespread insurrection, and from insurrection to revolution.
A future LAPD Chief, Daryl Gates,
was a driver for Chief Parker at the time. When he became chief in 1978, he
began a reign of fascist terror over South Central. CRASH units were organized
to terrorize Black and urban youth under the guise of “fighting street
hoodlums.” Gates made substantial use of the LAPD’s Public Disorder and
Intelligence Division squad, even developing an international spying operation.
They had their own international and local spy agency within the department. Also,
Operation HAMMER, another military style occupation in Black and Brown
neighborhoods, was crafted. Under Gates, we saw the televised and brutal
beating of unarmed Black motorist Rodney King.
So racist cop terror, international
spying — sounds like a military intelligence operation akin to the Israeli
Defense Forces, which is what LAPD is.
LAPD is a military intelligence
police department. From SWAT, to TV’s Dragnet, and Adam -12. It is the setting
for Numbers, a show based on the L.A. FBI office. People who live in or visit
Los Angeles should never forget that the cops here are as racist and as brutal
as any around. They use the media effectively to create an image of ‘protecting
and serving.’ But the video of Rodney King being pummeled by LAPD cops in 1991
was a media event LAPD could not escape. It showed the world what those of us
who grew up here already knew: When LAPD stops you, anything can happen,
especially if you are Black, Latino, gay or youth.
One ex-LAPD chief, Bernard Parks, an
African American, is currently a city councilperson in this fine city. And
during his reign as chief, the LAPD was again rocked by a corruption and police
brutality scandal involving the elite CRASH anti-gang unit of the Rampart
Division in the overwhelmingly Latino Pico-Union and Westlake districts. Incidentally, the CRASH
unit was the basis for the movie “Colors,” where LAPD was heralded as the
savior to gangs.
During the Rampart scandal
investigations, it was determined that immigrants were shot in the back and were
victims of home invasion robberies at the hand of LAPD officers. This is the
true face of the LAPD and it has been since its inception. As with all cops,
they protect and serve their masters. They “protect” private property and
“serve” the ruling class, as special bodies of armed men and women to enforce
the brutality of the oppressive, racist capitalist state.
And it has happened time and time
again in the years since Rampart. From the SWAT murder of infant baby Susie
Pena to the killing of Black youth Devin Brown to the recent LAPD murder of
Guatemalan immigrant Manuel Jamines, the LAPD can’t and won’t change the way it
does things. It is an institution. And it serves a purpose for the ruling
class.
But we can make a difference. That is
why we in the PSL organize against police violence and racist terror wherever
it comes up. We are out in the streets, doing outreach in neighborhoods,
protesting and holding events like this one. It is important to have an
organized revolutionary party to help fight back.
So, when you live in or visit our
fine city, remember that the cops will kill you, beat you, stop you for no
reason, and get away with it almost always.
Remember, too, that the Watts
rebellion, the defense of the L.A. Panther headquarters against the LAPD SWAT
in 1969, and the 1992 rebellion against police terror were ways that the
Blacks, the Latinos, the youth and the oppressed fought back against the LAPD.
They may or may not have succeeded
in overthrowing the system that the cops serve, but they did tell the cops that
“You ain’t all that, and that we will fight back.”
